Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said on Monday that he had sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing Tbilisi’s categorical rejection of double standards applied by Russian authorities and their lack of respect for the decision of the heads of CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries of 1996, forbidding any unilateral economic and political contacts with Abkhazian separatists without coordination with Georgian leadership. Moscow has not yet reacted to this statement. But on the same day, on July 21, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service denied reports about possible supplies of S-300 missile system to Abkhazia, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper says. ⌠The Ministry of Defense does not send its forces to the territory of other countries, and Abkhazia is the territory of another country. I officially state that the General Staff of the Russian armed forces is not developing plans to place S-300 missile systems in Abkhazia, said Mr. Deryabin, head of the Defense Ministry’s Press Service. This coincided with the beginning of a three-day official visit to Georgia by the State Duma’s delegation, headed by Deputy Speaker Vladimir Lukin. Mr. Lukin said the Abkhazian problem was one of the most urgent issues scheduled for discussion at the talks, especially in view of the recent decisions by Georgia’s Security Council and Parliament to appeal to the United Nations to coerce the breakaway autonomy to peace. This decision does not quite fit the spirit of the two presidents agreements reached at talks in Sochi, to Mr. Lukin. That is why, he said, it was desirable to clear up a number of issues to find out whether Georgia added new alerting elements to its position. The State Duma’s delegation will meet with President Shevardnadze, Parliament Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze and other top Georgian officials. According to the newspaper, Zviad Mukbaniani, Chairman of the Georgian Parliament’s External Relations Committee, believes that the conversation will be difficult. (RBC)